Depository and accounting device.



DEPOSITORY AND ACCOUNTING DEVICE. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 0.

1,018,283. Patented Feb. 20, 1912.

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FITZ MARTIN WHALLON.

DBPOSITORY AND ACCOUNTING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 30, 1910.

Patnted Feb. 20, 1912 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES: I

IIVVE/VTOH mam @2107 A TTOR/VEYS COLUMBIA FITZ MARTIN WHALLON.

DBPOSITORY AND AGGOUNTING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 30, 1910.

1,018,283. 7 Patented Feb. 20, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

. I i t 16 l 1 T I mfmmnmw I I I I Q W/T/VESSES: I Wmvnm ATTORNEYS COLUMBIA PLANOURAPM c0" WASHINGTON, D c.

FITZ MARTIN WHALLON, OF MAYVILLE, NEW YORK.

DEPOSITORY AND ACCOUNTING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 20, 1912.

Application filed June 30, 1910. Serial No. 569,825.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Fi'rz MARTIN WHAL- LON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Mayville, in the county of Chautauqua and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Depository and Accounting Device, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

An object of the invention is to provide a device adapted to contain stamps and the like, preferably in sheets, and to indicate the number of sheets and individual portions of a sheet that have been removed from the device.

For the purpose mentioned, use is made of a casing provided with means for removably securing a plurality of books having accounting means thereon and adapted to contain sheets of stamps and the like, and means for removing the sheets from the books or exposing a portion of a sheet when it is desired to use the same.

In the various post offices, post oflice substations and like stamp selling places, it is necessary at all times for the stamp seller to keep an itemized account of the number of sheets of stamps sold, the number of stamps remaining unsold on a sheet, and the denominations of the stamps sold. Then to check the account, the receipts must be carefully counted and a great deal of time is expended each day in this operation. Furthermore, it is almost impossible for a stamp seller to state the extent of his sales, at any moment of the day, and the remaining stamps or the money received for the stamps sold must first be accounted for before an accurate report can be had.

In my device an accurate account of the number of stamps sold is disclosed at all times, and the number of sales can be accurately stated by simply glancing at the accounting feature of my device. In my invention, as each stamp is sold it is accounted for, as each sheet of stamps is sold it is accounted for, and the number of books of stamps sold can be quickly estimated. Furthermore, the stamps are kept in perfect condition and selling errors are avoided.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings constituting a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference denote corresponding parts in all the views, and in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of my invention, parts being broken away to disclose the underlying structure; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the casing and one of the stamp containing books of my device; Fig. 3 is a plan view; Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the casing with an end of the same removed and disclosing the arrangement of the stamp containing books; Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 55 of Fig. 3, and Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view of the outer leaf or cover of one of the stamp containing books.

Referring more particularly to the various figures, a casing 10 is provided having perforations 11 in the upper longitudinal side of the casing. These perforations are provided to admit light into the casing at the upper end thereof and it will be understood that the casing can be conveniently made of glass, thus insuring suflicient light. The end 12 of the casing, and which I will designate the front end, is left open as will be seen in Fig. 1, and for a purpose more fully disclosed hereinafter. At the rear end 13 of the casing 10 upwardly extending hooks 14 are secured. At a point intermediate the rear and front ends of the casing, and on the sides thereof, a U-shaped guide loop 15 is mounted to swing. Loosely mounted at approximately the center of the loop is a guide roller 16 of rubber or any preferable material, and mounted on rearwardly extending guides 17 mounted on the loop 15 is a second guide roller 18. A book 19 having perforations 20 therein at the binding endof the book, is adapted to be removably secured in the casing 10 by passing the hooks 14 through the perforations 20, as will be easily seen by referring to Fig. 1. The outer cover 21 of the book 19 is preferably made of heavy flexible material, and the thin light pages 22 of the book 19 are preferably waxed or treated so that the stamps to be contained between the pages will not adhere thereto.

Extended a slight distance outwardly from the binding of the book 19 and intermediate the leaves 22, are spacing leaves 23, for keeping the pa-ges 22 substantially apart so that sheets of stamps 2 1 can be inserted therebetween. Along the upper edge of the cover 21, and extending toward the right from the binding, are a series of numbers, 0--102030, etc., each number being spaced from the next succeeding one, a no distance approximately equal to the width of a stamp and the said numbers preferably extending by tens from O to 90. Along the right hand edge of the cover 21 and eX- tending downwardly from the upper edge thereof are a series of numbers preferably from 1 to 10, and adjacent these numbers is a row of vertical elliptical shaped punch holes 25. On the page next to the cover a similar row of elliptical punch holes is made and adapted to register with the holes in the cover when the book is closed, but the first hole at the top of the page is omitted and a dot or mark 26 is made in place thereof, the said dot 26 being disposed to register with the first hole 25 in the cover, so that when the cover is lying against the first leaf the dot 26 will show through the hole 25 As will be readily seen, each succeeding page of the book is provided with elliptical holes 27, adapted to register with the holes in the other pages and the holes in the cover, except that each page after the first page will have the next succeeding hole 27 omitted counting from the top, and a dot 26 in place thereof, so that when the book is closed a dot will show through each of the holes 25 in the cover 21. The leaves 22 of the book, as well as the cover 21, have indentations 28 therein, and adjacent the said indentations, preferably rectangular shaped holes 29, are provided, and as will be seen by referring to Fig. 1 the guide rollers 16 and 18 are adapted to be disposed respectively in the said indentations 28 and holes 29.

The casing 10 is adapted to contain several books 19 therein, which I preferably designate as book No. 1, book No. 2, etc., and for the purpose of simplifying the description and operation of my invention I will designate the horizontal row of numbers on the cover 21 by the reference numeral 30 and the vertical row of numbers on the said cover by the reference numeral 31.

In the operation of my device, it will be highly beneficial to employ books in which the spots 26 vary in color, each color denoting a certain denomination of stamp, and thus simplifying the system, but it will be understood that I do not not limit myself to colored spot stamp books or to any par ticular colored book of a particular size. Assuming, however, that for two cent stamps, blue dots are employed, I insert complete sheets of stamps in the book with the marginal ends of the sheets inserted first, and with the sheets so inserted that each sheet will be between the waxed or paraffin leaves of the book, but not so far as to quite reach the partition slips or leaves 23 in the back end of the book. Now assuming that four books and numbered from 1 to 4 respectively were filled, I place number 4 book at the bottom of the case, then number 3 book on top of number 4 and so on until the books are all in position with number 1 book, removably held by the hooks 14, on top, as will be seen in Fig. 1. hen number 1 book becomes empty, it is placed beneath number 41- book and each of the books in turn will be similarly dealt with, thus establishing a perfect system of disposing of a book when the same becomes empty.

During the time that stamps are on sale, one row or fraction thereof only shall be exposed, and the said row or fraction thereof shall be wholly disposed of or constitute a part of the subsequent demand before the succeeding row or rows are broken into.

The movement in detaching the stamps should be from the top downward, and, as will be understood, when the sheet is drawn forward in detaching, the color of the stamps will show through the punch holes or slots 25 until the marginal end of the sheet is reached, when the punch hole will show white, thus indicating that the end of the sheet is reached. Applying the wheel 18 to the said marginal end by revolving the wheel, the end will be removed from the book and the color again becomes blue, denoting that a whole sheet is disposed of or that one hundred stamps are sold, and as each sheet in turn is exhausted, another blue spot 26 will show through the punch holes 25.

hen stamps are detached below the wheel 16, the said wheel will not retire exposed stamps, as no bearing surface is pro vided, and if the said stamps are retired by hand, then again the said wheel will fail to draw them out. It is for this reason and to meet and overcome this deficiency on the part of the wheel 16 that the rear or auxiliary wheel 18 is supplied.

Assuming that several sheets of stamps and several stamps from the next succeeding sheet have been sold from book 1, to invoice the same the number of blue dots 26 disclosed through the punch holes 25 are counted, beginning at the top and counting downwardly, and the number of punch holes thus shown will indicate the number of whole sheets sold. To determine the number of stamps sold from the neXt succeeding sheet of the book, the number in the horizontal row of numbers 30, opposite the last stamp disclosed upwardly adjacent to the row, is taken and to that number is added the number upwardly adjacent the number opposite the first stamp in the exposed row of stamps, that number being in the vertical column of numbers 31. Assuming the sales to be 975, there will be disclosed 9 blue holes or dots, the upper row of horizontal graduations will read and the side vertical graduations will read As there are generally one hundred stamps on a sheet, the number 9 of the blue dots multiplied .by 100 will be 900, and the and 5 added thereto will total 975 stamps sold. If it should happen that a complete book is not used in one day, the number of stamps sold can be marked on the book, together with the date, and the amount of the succeeding days sale can thus be easily computed when a grand total is desired. In case the sales of the same date run from one book to another, as for instance, from number 1 book into number 2 book, the first book transferred to the bottom would, as stated heretofore, have all the line of punch holes exposed, and by ascertaining the number of blue dots exposed, the number of stamps sold from the book could be easily computed.

Although I have described and shown the basic operation and construction of my invention, it will be understood that various check marking means and accounting methods can be conveniently employed to cooperate with my invention, so that perfect systems relative to the amounts of stamps sold can be used to indicate the sales per book and the complete sales, together with the number of books or stamps remaining unsold; and it will be further understood that although I have described and shown a particular construction of my invention, the scope thereof is defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A device of the class described comprising a plurality of sheets connected together at one end, the said sheets being adapted to hold therebetween other sheets of substantially the same size, the outer end of each of the first named sheets being provided with a number of alining punch holes, the first of said sheets having a maximum of said holes and each succeeding sheet being provided with a less number thereof, whereby as the second named sheets are withdrawn from between the first named sheets, the surface of the said first named sheets will become visible.

2. A device of the class described comprising a plurality of sheets connected together at one end, the said sheets being adapted to hold therebetween other sheets of substantially the same size, the outer end of each of the first named sheets being provided with alining punch holes, the first sheet having a maximum thereof and each succeeding sheet containing a less number, and a distinguishing mark carried by each of the said succeeding sheets, the said marks being disposed in the same plane as the holes on the preceding sheets, whereby as the second named sheets are withdrawn from between the first, the said mark on the succeeding sheets thereby becomes visible through the said holes on the preceding sheets.

3. A device of the class described comprising a plurality of sheets connected together at one end, the outer end of the said sheets being provided with a number of alining punch holes, the first sheet having a maximum thereof and each succeeding sheet being provided with one less thereof, the succeeding sheets being each provided with a distinguishing mark, the said marks each lying in the same plane as the plane of some of the punch holes, whereby when the book is empty the said distinguishing mark will appear at the bottom of each the said punch holes.

4. A device of the class described comprising a plurality of leaves connected together at one end, another end portion of the said leaves being provided with alining punch holes lying in the same vertical plane, the first sheet of the said device having a plurality of the said punch holes and each succeeding sheet being provided with one less thereof, whereby when other sheets which are adapted to be placed between the said sheets are withdrawn, the surface of the said sheets will be visible at the bottom of each of the said alining rows of punch holes.

5. In a device of the class described, the combination of a plurality of sheets connected together at one end thereof, another end thereof being provided with a number of punch holes, the top sheet having a maximum thereof and each succeeding sheet having one less thereof, the said punch holes lying in the same plane and being in register with each other, whereby the surface of a different sheet may be seen by looking through each of the punch holes on the said top sheet.

6. A device of the class described comprising a plurality of sheets connected together at one end, another end of the said sheets being each provided with punch holes, the top sheet having a plurality thereof, the holes in each succeeding sheet registering with the holes in the said top sheet, there being one less hole in each succeeding sheet, a distinguishing mark provided in each succeeding sheet adjacent the upper hole therein, whereby the said distinguishing mark on each of the sheets may be seen by looking into each of the holes in the said top sheet.

7. A device of the class described comprising a plurality of sheets connected together at one end, another end of the said sheets being provided with punch holes, the number of punch holes in the top sheet be ing equal in number to the number of succeeding sheets, and each succeeding sheet being provided with a lesser number of holes registering with the said holes in the top sheet and being one less in number, whereby the surface of each sheet may be seen by looking into the punch holes in the top sheet.

8. In a device of the class described, a plurality of sheets connected together at one end, another end of the said sheets being provided with punch holes, the top sheet having a maximum thereof and the bottom sheet having none, the said bottom sheet being provided with a distinguishing mark, the succeeding sheets between the top and the bottom sheets being each provided with a number of the said punch holes registering with the said punch holes in the top sheet, the number of holes in each succeeding sheet being one less than in the preceding sheet, a distinguishing mark on each succeeding sheet adjacent the upper hole therein, whereby all of the said distinguish ing marks can be seen through the said punch holes in the top sheet when the book is empty.

9. In a device of the class described, the combination of a plurality of sheets held together at one end, a casing for the said sheets having means in engagement with the said connected ends of the said sheets, each of the said sheets being provided with alineing indentations, a guide loop carried by the casing and extending over the said sheets, the said loop being provided with a roller thereon engaging in the said indentations in the said sheets, whereby turning of the roller will engage the surface of other sheets placed in position between the first named sheets and will remove the said sheets therefrom.

10. In a device of the class described, the combination of a casing provided with hooks at one end, a book containing a plurality of leaves; the closed end of the said book being in engagement with the said hooks, a guide loop carried between the sides of the casing and having a roller thereon, the sheets of the said book being pro vided with a row of registering indenta tions, the said roller engaging in the said indentations, a plurality of holes in the sheets adjacent the said indentations, a second roller carried by the said loop engaging the said registering holes, whereby sheets which have been placed in the book between the sheets of the book and of substantially the same size thereof, will be engaged by the said rollers and on turning thereof will be moved from between the said first named sheets. v

11. A device of the class described comprising a casing, a book therein, means car- Copies of this patent may he obtained for five cents each, by addressing" the Commissioner of Patents,

ried by the casing and engaging the book, whereby it is held in position, the leaves of the said book being provided with a number of. punch holes, the top leaf having a plurality thereof and each succeeding leaf having one less, the punch holes in the said leaves registering with each other, a distinguishing mark carried by each succeeding leaf adjacent the top hole therein, a guide loop carried by the casing and provided with rollers, the said leaves being also provided adjacent one end thereof with a number of indentations and holes adjacent the said indentations, the said rollers entering the said indentations and holes whereby when removable sheets which have been placed in position between the leaves of the said book are desired to be removed,

turning of the said rollers will move the said sheets outwardly and as each sheet is removed the distinguishing mark carried by one of the leaves of the book will be brought into view, thereby providing means for indicating how many sheets have been removed from the said book.

12. A device of the class described com prising a book made up of a plurality of leaves connected together at one end, the opposite end of the said leaves being provided with punch holes, the top sheet of the said book having a maximum of the said punch holes, and each succeeding sheet being provided with one less hole, the holes in each succeeding sheet registering wit-h the holes in the said top sheet, a distinguishing mark carried by each sheet adjacent the upper hole therein, the said top sheet being provided with a series of numbers extending longitudinally thereof, the said numbers being spaced apart equal to the width of a postage stamp, a sheet containing a plu rality of the said stamps being inserted between each of the leaves of the said book, the construction and arrangement being such that as the stamps are withdrawn, the vertical rows thereof will be drawn beyond the numbers extending longitudinally of the top sheet, whereby the number of whole vertical rows removed will be indicated, the number of sheets withdrawn being indicated by exposure of the said distinguishing mark on each of the said leaves of the book coming into view under each succeeding punch hole in the first sheet of the book.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FITZ MARTIN lVl-IALLON. lVitnesses:

ILL D. PARKER, EARLE S. Somvnn.

Washington, D. 0. 

